More than 200 California Indians, claiming they've been banished from their tribes by greedy or power-mad tribal leaders, on Wednesday asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to halt compact negotiations with gambling tribes until they establish independent tribal courts to deal with membership disputes. California Indians For Justice, a coalition of 14 tribes, converged on the north steps of the Capitol to protest a wave of disenrollments they say is cutting the hearts out of Indian people. In recent years, several thousand California Indians have been kicked out of their tribes or denied official membership, often because they challenged the ruling faction,...

LAKE JACKSON, Texas (AP) - A stolen single-engine airplane flew through power lines, blacking out about 11,000 customers, and then crashed, and the pilot vanished. The FBI joined the investigation and planned to question the owners of other aircraft based at the Brazoria County Airport, said Louis Jones, the county aviation director. Investigators believe the thief broke into 16 hangars early Sunday before finding a Cessna 172 he was able to commandeer, Jones said. After taking off, the plane severed a series of power lines about two miles southeast of the airport, cutting power to customers in the Lake Jackson...

US Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, described Israel's construction of a security barrier as a "legitimate act of self defense" after Sunday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem, clarifying a position he took in October when he told an Arab American audience, "We don't need another barrier to peace." "It is ironic that this act of terror takes place on the eve of consideration by the International Court of Justice of Israel's security fence. The court does not have and should not accept jurisdiction over this case," Kerry said in a statement...

<p>Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told him that he would step down if a recall referendum is held and he loses.</p>
<p>The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was wrapping up a three-day visit to observe the election council's verification process of more than 3.4 million signatures collected by the opposition to demand the recall. If the signatures are determined to be valid, a vote could be held in May.</p>